Coffee and Clippings: Rangers Out of First Place

The Rangers turned the ball over to their hired gun Matt Garza to do what he does on Friday night.
Unfortunately for the Rangers’ what he has done best – or at least most often – is give up bundles of runs.

Garza could not hold a significant early lead and ended up allowing all of Los Angeles’ runs in a 6-5 loss that knocked the Rangers out of first place in the AL West after a month-long stay. Oakland, which beat Houston on Friday, leads by a half game with 22 to play.

There aren’t going to be any more bands in the Rays clubhouse this season.

No additional team excursions. No more animals running or slithering around their feet and, much to their dismay after Jeremy Hellickson suggested it, no monkey shagging balls in the outfield during batting practice.

After declaring Thursday night that his players were too tight and trying too hard, Rays manager Joe Maddon said Friday that he would not use any more novelty acts or gimmicks to get them to relax and loosen up.

Peter Gammons

Peter Gammons is a Hall of Fame baseball columnist and he has covered the game of baseball for the Boston Globe, ESPN and the MLB Network. GammonsDaily.com features analysis from Peter Gammons as well as some of nation's top baseball analysts.